There's No Place Like Home
by GoldenHydrangea
Summary: And then there was the man who had sired Elphaba, but was not her father. He was a lying fraud, a speciesist who had nearly destroyed her life, and had absolutely nothing in common with her. Elphaba watches what's happening in the Emerald City through her crystal ball while waiting for Fiyero to come under the trap door.


When the castle was empty, Elphaba had left the tiny room under the trapdoor to quickly grab some clothes, food, and her crystal ball. It had been a risk, and where the crystal ball was concerned, she wasn't entirely sure it was worth it. Not that she hadn't gotten any information from it, just that she wasn't sure she wanted to know the information she had gotten.

As promised, there was a celebration throughout Oz that's all to do with her. Of course, it was the celebration of her _death_. It had been a long time since she had had a vision that brought her from Quadling Country to Munchkin land, showing all sorts of people singing and dancing, and with it, a certainty that it was about _her_. Still, she recognised the scenes from her vision the moment she had seen it in her crystal ball.

Not everyone was quite this happy, though. Glinda was in her room, taking advantage of the privacy it offered to grieve. She thought that Elphaba was dead, and Elphaba was letting her think that, even though she could see that it was hurting her. _I'm sorry, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that-_ what? She couldn't claim to be trying to protect her, there was already the danger that someone could discover their friendship, and that was probably more likely seeing as Glinda thought that she was dead and would probably be forced to celebrate it. She certainly wasn't doing her a favor. She was just playing it safe.

 _I'm sorry Glinda._

Fiyero was in one of the guest rooms of the Emerald palace, which he shared with Boq and the lion. Dorothy had her own room next door, as she was the only girl in the group. Which seemed a bit weird, since the 4 of them had been on the yellow brick road together for days. At one point, when he was alone, he had muttered, "I'm coming for you Elphaba. Just as soon as Dorothy gets home. Then I'm coming for you."

And then there was the man who had sired Elphaba, but was _not_ her father. He was a lying fraud, a speciesist who had nearly destroyed her life, and had absolutely _nothing_ in common with her. A couple of nights spent with her mother- nights he probably didn't even remember seeing as he hadn't recognised her name- didn't change that, and it didn't give him the right to _cry_ over her 'death'.

He was, in fact, 'getting his balloon ready at the moment, and Elphaba wasn't sure why she was watching. The balloon was green, green like the Emerald City, like that bottle that the Wizard was drinking out of this very moment. Green, it seemed, was the mark of the Wizard's, and that mark was also on Elphaba's _skin_. Despite her angry thoughts aimed at the Wizard, it was hard not to think about that.

"You wanted to see me?" A voice said from the doorway.

Elphaba knew that Glinda knew how to act, but with no one else in the room but the Wizard, she had made no effort to conceal the tears she had shed in the privacy of her room, and the anger for the man before her.

"I'll be ready to leave in 6 hours. And I'll be taking Dorothy with me. And I'll be telling them everything."

"Everything?"

"Well not everything…"

"Didn't think so."

There was a moment of silence, and then the Wizard said, "I don't see you rushing to fill the gaps."

"Remember, you promised not to clear my name." Elphaba whispered urgently, even though she knew Glinda couldn't hear her.

"We could both tell them." The Wizard's voice was shaking, "They won't believe either one of us but they might believe both of us…" He looking at Glinda. She hesitated, then shook her head, slowly, a tear escaping her eye. Elphaba let out a sigh of relief- or was it disappointment?

"Why spoil their happiness." The wizard muttered. "We're the ones who've been keeping it from them for so long."

"I don't care about _them_ , and I don't think you do either." Glinda snapped.

"We're very alike, you and I." The wizard was now talking more to himself than to Glinda, and Elphaba wasn't even sure who it was aimed at.

"I hate you." Glinda's voice was quiet, but sharp. The Wizard glanced up, holding out the bottle.

"Would you like a swig of this? Dulls the pain."

Glinda shook her head, more vehemently this time, and backed out of the room. The wizard watched her go, then took a long gulp from it.

§

"I AM A SENTIMENTAL MAN" The wizard's voice was loud and off-tune, almost speaking it at some parts. He was currently in the hot air balloon on a balcony sticking out of the Emerald Palace, a curtain draped in front of it to prevent the Ozians from seeing what was behind it. Dorothy was sitting next to him, trying to put as much distance between him and herself as possible. Apparently the farm brat had a brain after all. Fiyero, Boq, and the Lion were standing near the balloon. "WHO ALWAYS LONGED TO BE A FATHER!"

Glinda walked out onto the balcony, wearing a pink and green dress with green gloves, green eyeshadow, a painfully bright smile, and a pink flower.

 _Pink looks good with Green._

"THAT'S WHY I DO THE BEST I CAN"

Fiyero ran over to Glinda. "Please can you help, you can't let Dorothy go with him like this." He whispered urgently.

"TO TREAT EACH CITIZEN OF OZ AS SON OR DAUGHTER!"

When Glinda hesitated, he muttered, "She's a child, and she's lost in a strange world, and she doesn't know what she's doing-

The Wizard reached out and pushed the curtain aside. "I'm the Wonderful wizard of Oz!" He called to the crowd below.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Elphaba let out a long cackle. Some people in the city had probably seen the Wizard behind his Oz head, and even the people who hadn't probably hadn't imagined this- she could see it in the dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

"He really is the Wizard!" Glinda called. She was still smiling, which probably wasn't the most appropriate expression for the situation, but Elphaba could sense that she was afraid to stop. "C'mon." She muttered to him, and grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the balloon back into the Palace. A couple of minutes later, the Oz head came out.

"I AM OZ!" The Ozhead actually sounded normal- well, by Ozhead standards. "I AM OZ! THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE!"

And then he stumbled out from behind it, a pitiful wreck of a man, and Glinda had to help him back into the balloon.

"The thing is... I'm a big liar… Yeah and a fraud…"

The Ozians stirred. _Then the Wicked Witch was right all along?_ It had been what she had earned the title of Wicked for, "Defaming our poor wizard with her calumnies and lies". She wanted someone to say something, but no one spoke, either too stupid or to afraid to.

"So I'm leaving now… I have to leave Oz…"

 _The Animals. Take back what you said about the Animals._ Almost as if he had heard her, Fiyero said, "What about the Animals- your Wizardship?"

"Yeah…" The Wizard mumbled. "Them too… Well time to go…"

Glinda's eyes widened, and she pointed her wand at the dog- whatever his name was- seemingly without thinking. The dog jumped out of the girl's arms, and away from the balloon. The balloon about a foot in the air, Dorothy jumped out after the dog, grabbed it, and turned to dash back to the balloon, but it was now 10 feet in the air, and when she called for the Wizard to "Come back!" There was no answer.

She continued to watch, tears streaming down her cheeks, as the balloon disappeared out of sight. "Oh, now I'll never get home!" She said, in that irritating, whiny way of hers.

"Stay with us, then, Dorothy." The Lion said. "We all love you. We don't want you to go."

"Oh, that's very kind of you - but this could never be like Kansas. Auntie Em must have stopped wondering what happened to me by now. Oh, Scarecrow, what am I going to do?"

"Why don't you see if Glinda could help you?"

She looked over, to where Glinda was studying her in a frantic sort of way, as if she was wracking her mind to figure something out.

"Oh, will you help me? Can you help me?" Dorothy begged, in that way of hers that got on Elphaba's nerves.

"Oh! Um… You don't need to be helped any 've always had the power to go back to Kansas." Glinda said.

"I have?"

Glinda nodded far too enthusiastically. "Click those heels together and say, 'There's no place like home."

Elphaba realized what Glinda intended- she didn't have the power to get Dorothy back home, so she was going to try to add to the magic that Elphaba had already put into the slippers. What she didn't know was whether or not her friend _could_.

"Then why didn't you tell her before?" Fiyero asked, suspicious.

"Oh, um, she had to learn a lesson. You've learned a lesson, right?"

Dorothy nodded. "Well, I- I think that it- that it wasn't enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em- and it's that- if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?"

"Right!" Glinda said chipperly, in a way that made Elphaba suspect she would say that no matter what Dorothy said. "Now um, whenever you're ready."

"It'll take Toto, too?" Dorothy asked.

"Dodo too."

Dorothy hadn't even seemed to notice that Glinda had mispronounced the dog's name. "Oh, dear- that's too wonderful to be true! Oh, it's- it's going to be so hard to say goodbye. I love you all, too. Goodbye, Tin Man." She hugged Boq, awkwardly since he was made of metal. "Oh, don't cry. You'll rust so dreadfully. Here- here's your oil-can. Goodbye."

"Now I know I've got a heart- 'cause it's breaking."

Out of the range of the crystal ball, Elphaba heard Glinda inhale sharply, and knew she had seen what Elphaba had. Dorothy, about to depart Oz forever, never to see her friends again- suddenly, it seemed as if that stupid child was Elphaba, and Boq, and the Lion, and even Fiyero, was Glinda.

"Oh- Goodbye, Lion. You know, I know it isn't right, but I'm going to miss the way you used to holler for help before you found your courage." Dorothy said, hugging the Lion next.

"Well- I would never've found it if it hadn't been for you."

And then she turned to Fiyero. "I think I'll miss you most of all." She said simply.

Elphaba felt as if her eyes were anchored to Fiyero. He cared about this girl. He had been on an adventure with her.

Glinda stepped into view. She was no longer smiling, and tears were running down her face, ruining her make-up. "You're lucky to have such loyal friends." She whispered, and she saw Fiyero stiffen, but didn't think anyone else had heard her.

"Are you ready now?" She asked louder.

"I'm ready." She clicked her heels together. "There's no place like home." Glinda waved her wand, her face screwed up in concentration. "There's no place like home."

 _Because I knew you, I have been changed_

 _Now I know I've got a heart- 'cause it's breaking._

 _Well- I would never've found it if it hadn't been for you._

 _I think I'll miss you most of all._

 _Let the little girl go! And her poor little dog Dodo too!_

 _for good_

"There's no place like home."

Elphaba channeled her own power, adding to Glinda's imagining the spell on the shoes as a line. She didn't change it, you couldn't do that with a spell, she simply added to it.

Dorothy, the dog, and the shoes all disappeared, back to her Aunt Em and her Uncle What's-his-name.

Author's note: I know that's different from the Wizard of Oz movie, but so is the melting scene. I kept the lines where Dorothy was saying goodbye to the other three the same because that was the only part of the movie I liked. If anyone's wondering why Elphaba is mysteriously absent from my wicked fics, it's because I'm a big Elphaba fan, and I'm afraid I'll mess her up. Today, however, I decided to face that fear. Please review telling me if I messed Elphaba up.


End file.
